A CCIDENTS OF PREGNA NCY. 207 



and. care in avoiding or modifying these. This pertains to the chapter 

 on the hygiene of pregnancy (p. 153). With regard to animals wiiich 

 have a predisposition to abortion they should not, if possible, be bred 

 from. Should it be desired to breed from them, if they arebovines, they 

 must not be put frequently to the male, and certainly not before eighteen 

 months or two years have elapsed since the last miscarriage. If the 

 accident has been due to irritation of the generative organs, then these 

 should receive appropriate treatment. When pregnancy has again oc- 

 curred, every precaution should be observed to continue it to a success- 

 ful termination, by avoiding or removing those causes which previously 

 induced the accident, and attending to the general health — combating ple- 

 thora on the one hand, or anaemia on the other ; guarding against constipa- 

 tion by administering mild laxatives, and against irritation, whether 

 general or uterine, by doses of chloral of opium given by mouth or by 

 rectum ; and allowing only gentle exercise towards the end of gestation. 



Wlien abortion appears to be imminent, active intervention generally 

 becomes necessary in order to avert it ; and therefore it must be accu- 

 rately diagnosed. We have already alluded to the symptoms and means 

 by which this accident may be distinguished. If the veterinarian is 

 fortunately called upon in good time, and he is able to assure himself 

 that the foetus is still alive, that the membranes are not ruptured, and 

 labor pains have been few and not severe, the accident may be checked 

 or prevented by the administration of narcotics, and keeping the animal 

 in the most perfect quiet possible — alone in a darkened place, with 

 doors and windows closed, if convenient. The narcotic may be opium 

 (in the form of tincture if desirable), chloral hydrate, or chloroform. 

 Saint-Cyr recommends laudanum (one or two and a half drachms for 

 large animals) administered every half-hour or hour, in very small 

 enemata (not more than a wineglassful at once), which he thinks 

 preferable to draughts, but which may, nevertheless, be employed 

 concurrently. Zundel prefers chloroform, which, he asserts, has yielded 

 extraordinary results in his hands in these cases, by suddenly arresting 

 the straining. He gives it in doses of about three drachms to the Cow, 

 in the form of draught in oil or mucilage, repeating them every hour. 

 Carsten Harms recommends camphor, or camphor and opium, and Rueff 

 assafoetida. 



The abdomen should be gently rubbed for some time, and the stall 

 well littered ; and if the animal will eat and drink, easily-digested food 

 in small quantity, and gruel, may be given until all danger has passed — 

 generally for one or two days — -when it may be gradually put upon ordi- 

 nary diet, and allowed to resume its usual occupation. 



When abortion is inevitable — indicated by rupture of the water-bag 

 and escape of the waters — and there is no means of preventing the 

 expulsion of the foetus — the object must then be to favor the latter in 

 some cases as speedily as possible, and remove the membranes, should 

 there be any likelihood of their being retained in the uterus. In the 

 majority of cases, active intervention is of little value here, and is only to 

 be recommended when the labor is tedious, and the animal is becoming 

 exhausted by fruitless straining, or when the labor is altogether suspend- 

 ed after rupture of the membranes. Then, having emptied the rectum, 

 the oiled hand is to be cautiously introduced into the vagina, and if the 

 OS is contracted or not sufficiently open, it must be gently dilated by the 

 index and other fingers, until the interior of the uterus can be reached, 



